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Experts in Consumer Protections, Economics and Security Needed for New gTLD Program Review

03-Nov-2015|Source : AG-IP News|Visits : 4319

LOS ANGELES - ICANN announced in a press release that it extended the application deadline for participation on the community-based team that will review the New gTLD Program in regard to competition, consumer trust and consumer choice (CCT). Experts in consumer protections, economics and security are highly desired, and geographic diversity will be taken into account when selecting review team member. Any travel required will be funded by ICANN. The deadline for expressing interest is 13 November 2013 at 11:59 UTC.

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Participants selected as CCT Review Team members will pioneer an ongoing effort to track and examine data about the domain name industry and system. Their analysis of how new gTLDs are affecting the market place and the Internet's root zone will impact future rounds of the New gTLD Program through potential changes to policy.

Enhancing competition, choice and trust in the domain name space are key goals of the New gTLD Program, and the Internet community has a vested interest in determining whether new gTLDs have delivered on these promises. CCT Review Team members will represent the broader community in determining these conclusions.

Team members will be chosen in December 2015 and work is scheduled to begin in January 2016. Participants are expected to work closely with one another and there will be opportunities to network with other fellow community members. The CCT Review Team will set its own schedule for data collection, analysis and reporting, with the goal of producing its final report by 31 December 2016.

The review of the New gTLD Program in regard to competition, consumer trust and consumer choice is mandated by ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments. The review team is tasked with examining "the extent to which the introduction or expansion of gTLDs has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of (a) the application and evaluation process, and (b) safeguards put in place to mitigate issues involved in the introduction or expansion." The team will consider multiple inputs in its deliberation, including metrics recommended by the Internet community. ICANN has been collecting data for those metrics and recently created a webpage where this information is displayed. Other metrics were captured in global surveys of Internet users and domain name registrants, and through an economic study.